Linder’s Furniture, an Orange County-based chain that has stores in Murrieta, Rancho Cucamonga and Cathedral City and 10 others in Southern California, announced last week it has entered into an assignment for the benefit of creditors, which it described as “an alternative to bankruptcy.”

Earlier this week, Linder’s said they have hired liquidators to dispose of the remainder of the inventory.

The news has some Inland shoppers asking if they’ve been left holding the bag. Mary Wilridge of Rancho Cucamonga, who purchased a bed on Oct. 22 and is still waiting for delivery, now wonders if she will ever see what she paid for. Wilridge used a debit card for the purchase.

“They knew they were going into bankruptcy and didn’t tell anyone,” Wilridge said.

No one would answer the phone at Linder’s corporate office. At the firm’s customer service center, a person who would identify herself only as Operator 219 said that “all customers that are calling are being handled,” but would not elaborate and declined further comment.

Frank Adams, an attorney who handles bankruptcy cases for Riverside-based law firm Best Best & Krieger, said assignment for the benefit of creditors, or ABC, is very similar to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. Bankruptcy is supervised by the federal courts, while ABC is a California legal process.

Adams said that this could be a difficult process for customers who paid in advance because they are now considered creditors.

“”People who paid in full for something to be delivered could be out of luck,” Adams said.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.